The law firm is where Grimson has worked as a lawyer for the past three years after post-concussion syndrome put an end to his 14-season NHL career — during which he played for eight teams and racked up 2,113 penalty minutes.

The statement said the three former NHLers were “considering further recourse” in response to Cherry’s comments. It doesn’t indicate what that recourse might be, but a lawsuit is clearly a strong possibility. In separate interviews on Tuesday, both Grimson and Nilan indicated that an apology may not be enough.

“I think it’s pretty clear, the game has passed him by,” Grimson said of Cherry. “It might be time for him to step aside.”

Nilan and Grimson are particularly upset because they’re not among the former warriors who have advocated an end to fighting in hockey.

“That’s one of the points that’s rubbed me raw,” Grimson said. “I have never called for a ban, I never said fighting was the cause for people who have ended up in the trap of depression and addiction.

“He has stepped into a debate, a highly sensitive dialogue that was triggered by the deaths of three players last summer (Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak) and he has chosen some very harsh and derogatory terms and targeted guys who have tried to deal with these issues. It’s reprehensible.

“One thing I find with Cherry, there’s no accountability,” Grimson added. “Let’s be clear: I’m a strong advocate of free speech. But from time to time, someone goes so far outside the line that they have to be held accountable. What he said was harmful, dangerous and reckless.”

Grimson made it clear that the three former players haven’t yet decided precisely what course of action they will take. The statement doesn’t specifically mention an apology or the threat of a lawsuit, although that is clearly implied.

“We want to explore everything,” Grimson said. “At this point, I can’t say that an apology would do it.”

What Grimson, Nilan and Thomson clearly want is for Cherry and Coach’s Corner to be cancelled.

There is ample precedent for such action in the broadcast media, from Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Donovan McNabb on Monday Night Football to Hank Williams Jr. being yanked from the same program last week after comparing Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.

Nilan, who spent all or part of 10 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens during a long career that saw him score a respectable 110 goals and 115 assists while racking up 3,043 penalty minutes, made it clear that he has seen enough. Nilan had considered Cherry a friend.

“He kissed me on the cheek and said he loved me, then he calls me a puke and a hypocrite and a turncoat,” Nilan said. “I battled hard to get back to where I am and I don’t blame anybody but myself for what has happened to me. I battled hard and I got back on my feet, then I’m accused of saying something I never said. And I don’t even get a phone call. He doesn’t call me up and say, ‘Chris, it’s like this, I owe you an apology.’ Nothing.

“I know some people are going to think maybe, because of the things I’ve been through, I’m doing this for the money,” Nilan added. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m not the type to sue. I’ve never sued anybody in my life. But if it ever happens that we go to a lawsuit and there’s any money coming from this, I’m going to give it to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Every dime. You can quote me.”

Whether it ever comes to that remains to be seen. But Grimson and Nilan both feel that this time, Cherry has gone too far.

“People always say it’s Don being Don,” Nilan said. “It’s like in Boston, when they used to say it was Manny (Ramirez) being Manny. Nobody stands up to him. Well, enough of that. We’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder on this.”

Grimson emphasized that although he’s the practising attorney in the group, he’s not the one driving the bus.

“We’re in this as equals,” he said. “We’re going to act together all the way. It just made sense for the firm to draft this statement, because this is where I work.”

Nilan also clarified his stance on fighting and cleared up a misunderstanding that might have led to Cherry’s comments in the first place.

“I never said I wanted to see an end to fighting,” Nilan said. “What I don’t like is a guy calling up another guy for a fight.

“Like a guy sees he’s going to be playing a certain team, so he calls the fighter on the other team and says, ‘We’re going to go next Wednesday night.’ I don’t hold with that, but I never said I was against fighting. What else are you going to do out there? This is a hockey rink. You can’t go out of bounds. You’ve got to face it.”

By slagging the fighters who have helped to make him a very wealthy man, Cherry may unwittingly have opened another can of worms. Going back to 1989, Cherry has made 22 videos in his Rock ’em, Sock ’em series, which has gone by various titles. No. 23 will be out this Christmas.

The series began in the VHS format and was first offered in DVD in 1998 with the Don Cherry 10th Anniversary release. The series, featuring the fights and big hits of the previous NHL season, has sold an estimated 2 million units and continues to be one of the top-selling sports videos during the Christmas season — yet Grimson and Nilan made it clear they have never received any of the revenue from the videos.

“Those things are great sellers in Canada,” Nilan said. “Tell you the truth, I’ve never watched them, but I know they’re big stocking stuffers around Christmas time. But I’ve never seen a dime from those things.”

Most of the videos are still available through Internet vendors, for prices ranging from $12.99 to as high as $29.99 for copies of the early VHS editions. If the sales estimate is accurate and Cherry is earning even $5 a video, that’s $10 million in profits, not a penny of which has been shared with the men who do the fighting — unless Grimson and Nilan happen to be the only two who were never paid.

Neither former player indicated any interest in a share of the profits from the videos — but even if Cherry is under no legal obligation to cut the fighters who star in his videos in for a share, it’s an interesting ethical issue that may further isolate Cherry at a time when he finds himself at the centre of a storm that is unprecedented, even for him.

Having helped to build the NHL’s gladiators into heroes, Cherry turned on a dime and stabbed them in the back simply because he thought they disagreed with him about fighting — then, even after he was proved wrong, refusedto apologize or recant his statement.

“It’s time Don Cherry and the CBC need to be accountable,” Nilan said. “They put him out there and it’s like, ‘We like Don, we keep paying him, but we don’t agree with his stand.’

“Well, c’mon. You’ve got to be accountable. What would I like? I’d like to see him out of there.”

It’s a lesson Carroll's mother taught him early in life: ‘When you go out the house, you gotta make sure you represent your family looking good'

No Canada: How we lost our game

For the first time since 1970, there will be no Canadian teams in the NHL playoffs this year. In a six-part series, Postmedia News looks into the reasons for Canadian teams’ on-ice woes, from the Canadian dollar to players’ aversion to the media fishbowl.

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